Marin Voice: Another fight to save Marin

MANY OF US were drawn to Marin because of the small towns and quality of life. Some of us were poor (I made $44 a week in 1959, when we first moved here) but chose to scrimp by to be able to live here in Marvelous Marin.

We rented and eventually bought homes. (Ronita and I still live in the starter home we purchased in 1963).

It was a constant battle: Save Our Seashore, Save French Ranch, Save the Bay. We battled developers, governmental agencies, Marincello, the Corps of Engineers that wanted to concrete over the creeks in the name of flood control all the way through Fairfax, Caltrans' plan to build the freeway through Fairfax to West Marin to handle all the new development out there and the folks who wanted us to buy into Sonoma County's Warm Springs Dam so we would have the water to build out Marin.

We fought high-density development.

Our slogans were: "Do you know the way to San Jose" and "Don't Los Angelize Marin."

I'll see if I can find some of the old bumper stickers.

In 1972, a new Countywide Plan, entitled "Can the Last Place Last," was adopted.

Was that just a different time? I think not.

Folks are just as passionate today about protecting their quality of life as they were 50 years ago.

The proposed high-density housing for the San Quentin State Prison site, should the prison close, would add an additional 2,000 living units out there. One aspect of the state's Planned Development Area designation is to circumvent the strict enforcement of the California Environmental Quality Act. There is a major push by development and oil interests in Sacramento to roll back CEQA requirements.They call it streamlining.

Now, PDAs are being pushed, but do we have the water or sewer infrastructure and capacity to meet the demands they create?

How about the $180 million needed to increase capacity in just the Ross Valley's sewer system? Can the Central Marin Sanitation Agency handle the additional treatment capacity? Will that desalination plant on the bay have to be built?

No one from Plan Bay Area, the Association of Bay Area Governments or the Metropolitan Transportation Commission has ever contacted the water or sewer agencies regarding their capabilities to provide the potable water necessary or the infrastructure and capacity to transport and treat the new sewerage generated by thousands of living units and thousands of new jobs for all the businesses that will set up shop here.

It takes a half hour to get to Highway 101 from Fairfax during commute times and on weekends the traffic is bumper-to-bumper through Fairfax.

The end result of ABAG and MTC's Plan Bay Area is the equivalent of a new city the size of Fairfax and San Anselmo combined — a city of 20,000. Yet, Plan Bay Area does not address cumulative impacts, water supply, schools, sewer infrastructure, roadway capacity and on and on.

I attended my first Plan Bay Area meeting on May 6. Marin does not need this kind of divisive atmosphere. It is time to send Plan Bay Area back to the drawing boards.

Former Fairfax Mayor Frank Egger is the president of the Ross Valley Sanitary District.